November 19, 2007

Recall Petition Targets Sheriff Joe Arpaio

(Phoenix, Arizona) A group called Arizonans for the U.S. Constitution and Recall of Joe Arpaio wants 283,300 valid registered county voters to sign up for the recall of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas. The signatures must be turned in by February 26th.

I mentioned this story on Interested-Participant a couple days ago and the man who claims to be the head recall person visited and commented. His name is Leonard Clark and he left his phone number and email address along with some interesting commentary. As an example:

Hello, my name is Leonard Clark, I am the chairman of both recalls. William Crum is the treasurer

We are trying to get this recall off the ground and use all the help we can get to restore democracy and justice to Arizona by recalling these two anti-constitutional thugs: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

Clark is also big on name-calling, accuses Arpaio of fascist intimidation and threats of lynchings and implies that Arpaio and Thomas will send out death squads.

As I understand, Arpaio and Thomas are comfortably popular so the recall will probably fail to get enough signatures. Even so, they do also have their political enemies. Leonard Clark likely typifies the adversarial mindset.

The Jawa readers might enjoy the comment thread. In fact, I'm hoping Clark is assertive enough to show up here on the Jawa with some comments.

[Update 11/21/07]

According to a poll conducted by Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Eight/KAET-TV involving 697 registered voters, three out of four respondents oppose the recall.

Poll director Bruce Merrill, a retired Arizona State University professor, said the support for Arpaio and Thomas will make it difficult for a citizens group to collect the more than 200,000 signatures necessary to require a recall vote.

"It's going to be very difficult for the people who want to recall both of them to get enough signatures ... because two out of every three voters have a favorable opinion of them."

Recall organizer Leonard Clark said "the movement will gather steam as his group spreads its message."